Cross-Chain Bridges and EVM Interoperability with ETC

Ethereum Classic's EVM compatibility extends beyond smart contract execution to encompass the entire development and infrastructure ecosystem. Cross-chain bridges, shared tooling, and universal standards connect ETC to the broader multi-chain landscape.

## Bridge Infrastructure

Cross-chain bridges allow assets to move between ETC and other EVM chains. These bridges typically operate by locking assets on one chain and minting wrapped representations on another:

- **ETC ↔ ETH bridges:** Allow movement of assets between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum, the two original EVM chains
- **Multi-chain bridges:** Some bridge protocols support ETC alongside dozens of other EVM chains, providing broad interoperability

Bridge usage enables ETC users to access DeFi protocols on other chains and allows users from other ecosystems to interact with ETC-native applications.

**Security note:** Cross-chain bridges are high-value targets for attackers. Users should exercise caution, use established bridges with proven track records, and understand the trust assumptions involved. Not all bridges are created equal — some rely on multisig committees, others on optimistic verification, and others on zero-knowledge proofs.

## Shared Development Tooling

The EVM standard means that the entire Ethereum development toolchain works on ETC:

**Development frameworks:**
- **Hardhat:** Compile, test, and deploy contracts with network configuration pointing to ETC RPC endpoints
- **Foundry:** Fast, Rust-based development toolkit works identically on ETC
- **Remix:** Browser-based IDE connects to ETC through MetaMask or direct RPC

**Languages:**
- **Solidity:** The primary EVM smart contract language compiles to identical bytecode regardless of target chain
- **Vyper:** Python-inspired EVM language works on any EVM chain

**Testing and verification:**
- Unit testing frameworks, fuzzing tools, and formal verification tools are chain-agnostic
- Contract verification on Blockscout follows the same process as on Etherscan

## Developer Skill Portability

A developer who has built on any EVM chain can build on ETC with no additional training. This is a significant strategic advantage:

- Smart contract patterns (ERC-20, ERC-721, proxy patterns) are universal
- ABI encoding and decoding is identical
- Transaction signing, gas estimation, and RPC methods follow the same standards
- Frontend libraries (ethers.js, viem, wagmi) connect to ETC by changing a single RPC URL

## RPC Compatibility

ETC nodes expose the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC API, meaning wallets, dApps, and tooling built for Ethereum can connect to ETC by simply pointing to an ETC RPC endpoint. Public RPC providers serve the ETC network, making it accessible to any application that supports custom EVM chains.